Fox News Pitches Harris and Trump on Late October Debate — Harris Already Agreed to Rematch on CNN
Fox News Media on Wednesday proposed to both the Harris and Trump campaigns that it host a presidential debate, in Pennsylvania, on either Thursday, Oct. 24 or Sunday, Oct. 27 — allowing each side to make “closing arguments” ahead of Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 5).
Vice President Kamala Harris already has accepted CNN’s invitation to participate in a second debate with former President Donald Trump, to take place on Wednesday, Oct. 23. CNN has set an Oct. 10 at noon ET deadline to hear from both campaigns.
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“The American people deserve another opportunity to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their ballots,” Harris-Walz Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “It would be unprecedented in modern history for there to just be one general election debate.”
CNN confirmed that the format for Oct. 23 would resemble the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, with the candidates fielding moderators’ questions for 90 minutes without a studio audience.
“Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate,” Harris-Walz Campaign Chair O’Malley Dillon noted. “It is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.”
Trump has suggested that Oct. 23 was “just too late” for another debate, even though the final presidential debate of the 2020 Election cycle took place on Oct. 22.
After Trump’s first face-off with Harris on Sept. 10, the former president declared in a Truth Social post that he would not debate Harris again, spelling out in all-caps: “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
Harris, meanwhile, signaled that she’d be up for a rematch during a Sept. 12 speech to supporters in North Carolina. “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate,” she said at the time. “Because this election and what is at stake could not be more important.”
ABC served as host of the first Harris/Trump debate, with ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis serving as moderators. TVLine readers chose Harris as the clear winner, with 74% of poll respondents saying she won the debate and 25% opting for Trump.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift announced she’s endorsing Harris in a statement posted to Instagram minutes after the debate ended.
There’d be great interest in another Trump-Harris debate, judging by the ratings: ABC’s debate attracted more than 67 million viewers across all networks, a 31% increase over the audience for June’s Trump-Biden debate.
Would you watch another debate between Trump and Harris? Or have you seen enough to know who you’re voting for? Sound off in the comments.
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